Jeff Olson,
40, took his displeasure with the Federal bailout of large banks like
Bank of America to the streets when he began chalking slogans like "No
Thanks, Big Banks" and "Shame on Bank of America" outside of three
separate Bank of America branches in San Diego.

But after a
bank security manager called the city repeatedly to complain about
Olson's washable messages, the city decided to charge him with 13 counts
of vandalism, a misdemeanor. If found guilty however, each count could
include a $1,000 fine as well as a year in prison.

Olson defended his speech to the local CBS station: "Always on city sidewalks, washable chalk, never crude messages, never vulgar, clearly topical."

3 comments:

And the latest topper; the judge in the case has barred the defendant and his counsel from even using the terms free speech, freedom of speech or the first amendment . . . Since you're going to prison for a decade anyway, why not just burn the fucking bank to the ground.

M'self, I think there's an unequal enforcement issue in this. If this is vandalism, I expect this prosecutor to punish all children in his jurisdiction for each and every instance of putting chalk on public pavement, to include hopscotch layouts, random doodles, or any statement or slogan that could be construed as terrorism against any figure of authority, to include parents, teachers, police or prosecutors and all other adults.

This is the thin edge of the wedge, my friends. Unless we begin the vigorous prosecution of children for vandalism with chalk, they will grow up to be adults who commit vandalism with chalk. And we certainly can't have that, can we?